


Sticks And Stones (Will Build A Home)

by Myrime



Series: Homeward Bound [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Butterfingers with Sunglasses, Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Mechanic Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Bots, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Road Trips, Tony Stark Has A Heart, the bots are menaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 20:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17210573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrime/pseuds/Myrime
Summary: “In what world will my search for Bucky be easier with three over-enthusiastic bots as company who have never been outside my various homes before?” Tony asks, honestly curious, watching his kids block his access to the car. Dum-E is clutching his fire extinguisher, while Butterfingers looks at him with impatience, both of them beeping loud protest at him. U at least is quiet, although only because he is busy capturing the beginning of Tony's downfall on film.There is nothing else to do but give in. "All right," Tony sighs, "I guess we're going on a road trip together."





	Sticks And Stones (Will Build A Home)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PrinceofBadassery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceofBadassery/gifts).



> This one is a late holiday present for [PrinceofBadassery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceofBadassery/pseuds/PrinceofBadassery) without whom this wouldn't exist. Thank you for giving me this wonderful idea. I had a lot of fun writing it.  
> It basically replaces the first part of the last chapter of 'Someone To Bring Me Home'. Instead of Bucky coming back, Tony goes out to look for him.  
> Enjoy!

Tony is not sure how to feel as he sits in his kitchen, surrounded by moving boxes. An air of regret hangs over the scene, although he could not say whether that is due to _how_ he is leaving or because he is leaving at all. Around him, his whole life is packed up, ready to be relocated. Only he still feels out of place.

During both very good and very bad days, Tony has imagined going home for years. None of those fantasies featured him haphazardly throwing things into boxes and his bots running around the house in mournful disbelief. He thought it would be triumphant, the prodigal son returning home to claim his rightful place. Instead, this feels distinctly like a tragedy, like he is giving up.

With a sigh, Tony puts down the coffee mug he has been clinging to – a threadbare excuse for why he is not working – and decides that moping does not become him. All there is left to do is to call someone in to move the lab. Pepper left him the number of the company who built his little secret lair in the first place, so all he has to do is ask JARVIS to look it up.

JARVIS has been rather short with him lately too. He is not acting like a grieving puppy as the bots are, but there is a lot less sarcasm between them, replaced by cool efficiency. Tony has not dared ask why exactly his AI is angry at him – for running back to New York in such a headless manner, or going farther back to all but throwing Bucky out of his home – because he is sure he will not like the answer, no matter what it is.

Tony has made the decision to go, because with each passing minute he feels more like the walls are closing in on him. His kitchen is too empty, his bed is too big, the work bores him, and Carlos’ pizza tastes like ash. He _cannot_ stay if he does not want to lose his mind.

“J,” he says out loud, then trails off. He is going to ask for the number of the moving company so he can get on with his life. Tomorrow evening he can be back in New York, sharing wine with Pepper, laughing about his foolish younger self, thinking exile was a good idea. “Anything new out there?”

“No incoming movement, sir,” JARVIS answers dutifully, although with unmistakeably reproach in his tone. “And Sergeant Barnes has not deposited or withdrawn any money from his accounts.”

A flood of shame fills Tony, although that is still nothing against the disappointment rising inside his throat, making it difficult to breathe for a moment.

He is _not_ stalking Bucky. He has not hacked his phone or that of any of his friends, does not let JARVIS scan traffic cameras all over America to follow him. It is just a regular security protocol that has JARVIS observing the surrounding streets to recognize incoming trouble, and if Tony has JARVIS keeping an eye on Bucky’s bank accounts, that is purely because there is still an impressive sum of money to be made by selling Tony’s story and whereabouts to the papers.

Tony does not think Bucky would do that, but his track record with trusting people without that ending in disaster is not any good, and this is still a better excuse for what he has JARVIS doing than his incessant moping and stupid hope that Bucky might come back to him – although he is unable to say where he got that ridiculous idea. Bucky is the one who left, because he was looking for something better than a deranged billionaire living in the middle of nowhere, and because Tony behaved so badly that he literally pushed Bucky into running away. While he is usually good at finding excuses, only he is to blame for his current misery.

With a sigh, Tony gets up, leaving his mug behind as he walks down the stairs to take in his gutted garage. All his regular tools are gone, the _We’re closed_ sign hangs in the entrance and feels like a punch whenever Tony lays eyes on it. That, somehow, is making it all the more real. He could find explanations for the boxes, for his calls to Pepper, but that sign is nothing short of a confession. Tony Stark does not stop working, he is never closed. And yet, here they are.

He has fended off the town folk’s questions, talked about a family emergency, and wilfully ignored the pitying glances of everyone who connected Bucky’s disappearance with his haggard looks and sudden desire to leave.

“All right,” he says to himself, then louder, “JARVIS?” Before he can say anything further, though, his eyes fall on his car – which was a useless investment, because Tony is barely ever going anywhere – and goes very still.

“Yes, sir?” JARVIS asks after a long moment of silence.

“I just had a very stupid idea.” Tony pauses, fascinated despite himself but unable to keep himself from picturing Pepper’s looks of disapproval once she finds out about this. Then again, he is a walking bundle of disappointments to her, so she should be used to it by now.

“Sir?” JARVIS prompts again, making Tony realize he stands motionless in his empty garage, grinning like a madman.

“Start making a list,” he orders cheerfully, “I’m going on a road trip.”

 

* * *

 

Once he has fended off JARVIS’ questions about the why and where and how long – Tony only knows the answer to one of those – he calls the bots to gather down in the basement workshop to relay the news.

“I need to go away for a little while,” Tony begins their conversation, thinking it might be easier if he says the hardest part first.

Unsurprisingly, all three bots erupt into half-questioning, half-panicked beeping. Dum-E reaches out with his arm, either to comfort Tony or hold him back, but Tony dodges him with trained ease because he does not want to start his journey with a black eye.

“It’s basically what Bucky is doing, a journey to find himself.” Mentioning Bucky was a bad idea, for that makes the bots’ protest only louder, demanding. If Tony has been heartbroken about Bucky’s departure, it hit the bots just as bad, if not worse. For a short time, they had another friend, other than Tony, and one with a metal arm just like theirs, and then he was gone. They cannot understand how things went so wrong so quickly – not that Tony could really give a satisfactory answer to that either.

“Only that I want to find _him_ ,” he continues, relishing the way these words taste on his tongue.

This time, Tony is almost glad for the cacophony of sound meeting his statement, because that helps to drown out the doubt rising in him. By reassuring them that he knows what he is doing, he is also calming himself, no matter that he is outright lying. He is taking control of his life here instead of leaning back and letting it happen to him. He is not entirely optimistic about how that is going to turn out for him, but it is a first good step to take an active part.

The rest of the night is spent packing his bag, following JARVIS’ dry commands, and keeping the bots from trying to fit into it too. They are very determined to accompany Tony, so much so that Tony is half-convinced he will have to wait until their batteries have died so that he can sneak out of his house without being ambushed by his own kids.

The following morning, Tony takes a good long look at himself in the mirror. There is no denying his tiredness but he is so used to the sight of black bags under his eyes that he barely notices them. He mostly wonders how Bucky might react to seeing him again – if Tony ever finds him.

When he gets to the car, Butterfingers is wedged in front of the steering wheel, flicking his arm at Tony in such a flippant way that he is sure not even a sullen teen could have managed any better. Dum-E and U are flanking the open door, behaving a little less impertinent but still looking like nothing is going to make them move out of the way.

“JARVIS,” Tony says with a sigh, “I told you to lock the car.” Deep down, he had expected some kind of protest when Butterfingers had refused to go to his charging station the night before, but this looks like outright mutiny.

“And I did, sir,” JARVIS answers promptly, although with a good amount of cheek clouding his tone. “You never said anything about _keeping_ it locked.”

For once, Tony’s pride of the sassiness of his AI is undermined by the sheer impossibility of the situation presenting itself to him. “You’re sounding like you think it’s actually a good idea to take them along.”

JARVIS naturally has a reasonable answer to that too. “Do you want to leave them here alone?”

They would go mad within days of his departure, being both bored and worried, and maybe scared too that he is never coming back. He could shut them down for the time of his absence, but he has never managed to do that before. He did not give them life only to temporarily kill them when it becomes stressful to have them around.

“Stop going all Socrates on me,” Tony snaps, already feeling his resolve crumble. “It’s not appreciated.”

“I still think it might be better for you to take them along,” JARVIS concludes stubbornly, something like a grin colouring the words.

“In what world will a road trip be easier with three over-enthusiastic bots as company who have never been outside my various homes before?” Tony asks, honestly curious. He knows he has lost the moment he treated this scenario as a possibility.

In what is surely meant to be a reassuring gesture, Dum-E lays his arm on Tony’s shoulder, while Butterfingers clutches the steering wheel with his arm, beeping furiously.

“Dum-E wants me to tell you that you will need look-outs,” JARVIS translates his brother’s chatter in a perfectly genial tone. None of his inappropriate satisfaction at how the situation is playing out shines through. “And three technically perfect sets of sensors are better than two occupied human eyes.”

Feeling outnumbered and ambushed, Tony points out, “That’s not what he said.”

“I took the liberty of translating the gist of it,” JARVIS replies smoothly, never at a loss for words. “Butterfingers wants to add that Bucky was his before he was yours, so he has a right to come along.”

To underline that statement, Butterfingers raises his volume another notch, until he has to be hushed by his brothers.

“This sounds a lot like mutiny.” Tony never loves his children more than when they band together for a common cause, even if they are united against him at the moment. They have grown so far beyond his wildest expectations that he sometimes thinks he is going to burst from love for them.

“We are what you made us,” JARVIS says with open fondness, and Tony allows himself to bask in the glorious feeling of calling these four family, before he turns his expression into a glower far more appropriate for the situation.

“Which is annoying little shits who are way too certain they know what’s best for me,” he growls, already thinking about logistics and how to get the bots in and out of the car when he stops for the night without getting arrested for suspicious behaviour.

With entirely too much smugness, JARVIS remarks, “You created us after your own nature then.”

“All right,” Tony acquiesces, rolling his eyes, and all three bots erupt into what can only be cheers. “I actually just meant that I give up on my argument with J,” he protests weakly, but they simply drown him out.

“I think we are decided, sir,” JARVIS adds cheekily, sounding more amused than Tony ever programmed him to be.

The thing is, seeing the bots so excited has a rather soothing effect on Tony, like applying ice on the burn of being left behind. This is his family and they might want Bucky back, too, but they are also here for him, blocking him from his car so he will not have to go alone. Were he a better man, he would open up his arms and hug them close, tell them thank you in more words than they understand. Instead, he shrugs in defeat.

“You are menaces,” he says, but before Dum-E can lower his arm in sad acceptance, he nods at the car. “I guess we’re going on a road trip together.”

 

* * *

 

Once they have everything packed – loading the car with three charging stations as well as emergency tools on top of Tony’s very human necessities – Tony lets the bots fight out who will ride shotgun. Unsurprisingly, Butterfingers wins, most likely reminding them again that he was the first to become friends with Bucky. U looks a bit disappointed, but after Tony helps him adjust his camera so he can nonetheless film everything they are driving past, his excitement is once again unhindered. Dum-E does not need any encouragement, because playing the benevolent older brother to Butterfingers is what he usually does anyway.

He looks at all his children gathered together, at Dum-E clutching a fire-extinguisher close, loudly refusing to get into the car without one, at U, who has already managed to turn the camera back upside-down, and at Butterfingers, who has somehow appropriated one of Tony’s pair of sunglasses, which gives him a distinctly impatient appearance.

It is a piece of work to get all their seatbelts on, making Tony think about all the adjustments he could make to the car, and he is so glad to be able to think in terms of projects again that he does not even contemplate the uselessness of it. He certainly does not want to make this kind of travel with the bots a regular thing.

When Tony finally slides into the driver’s seat, he turns around again, eyeing all three bots with what he hopes is a stern look, despite the grin tugging at his lips.

“Okay, kids” he says, taking a deep breath. The bots go still, turning their bodies towards him in a display of attention. “Are your batteries charged?” he asks, waiting for affirmative nods. “All joints oiled? We’re not going to stop in half an hour because you got your arm stuck.”

Dum-E chitters something that Tony can only hope is agreement, and the other two bop their arms. This is likely as good as he will get, considering that the three of them are all but jumping up and down in their seats, impatient to finally start their journey.

“Now,” Tony has to stall them another minute, “before we go, we need to talk about rules.”

Even though he does not think they are going to listen to a single thing he is going to say, he needs to be able to be honest when Pepper questions him about how the inevitable catastrophe this road trip is going to turn out has come to be. If he does not even try to get his kids to behave, all the blame will be laid at his feet.

“No scaring other people,” Tony begins counting off his fingers, “no stealing cats, even if they are adorable, no petting other people's pets without asking permission.”

There was one memorable weekend when U decided to adopt the neighbour’s dog, while Tony was hidden away in the workshop, getting ripped out of his working binge by an enraged Mr. Sinder, demanding that his wicked machine from hell give back his beloved pet. To this day, JARVIS refuses to tell how U even got to the dog in the first place.

“No going anywhere alone, no recording of any inappropriate moments, and that includes me falling asleep in the car and drooling on the wheel. Nobody wants to see that, especially not since Rhodey is going to be furious at me for not sticking to a healthy sleep schedule.” Holding up a warning finger, Tony adds, “I don't care what he promised you for providing him with evidence, I'm still your father. I mean it, I'll take the blender away if I have to endure even a minute of shouting thanks to you.”

Calling himself their father falls easily off Tony’s lips. It is something most people would regard with a healthy amount of scepticism, but he has built these bots, has written the basis of their characters down in code. As far as Tony is concerned, that is more effort than other people pour into raising their flesh-and-blood children.

“Right, where were we? No _using_ the fire extinguisher,” Tony says with a warning glare at Dum-E who answers by clutching his favourite object closer to himself. The mere thought of leaving the house without it is unbearable for him – as well as imagining a road trip where he will not need it, or so it seems. “No hacking random people we meet just to make sure they don't have any shady intentions."

JARVIS uses the slight pause Tony leaves to argue in an amused tone, “I doubt the bots are capable of that, sir.”

Tony grins in response, not nearly as afraid of what could go wrong on this trip as he should be. “I was talking to you, J,” he says lightly. “Those three will likely destroy the car and what little is left of my reputation, but you could level an entire town without blinking, and don't pretend you wouldn't if you think it would help me.”

This kind of devotion should scare him but he has thought it necessary once and finds he does not want to miss it even now, older and decorated with more scars than his drunk younger self, desperate to build himself a friend.

“It's literally written into my code.” JARVIS is shrouding himself in innocence, but Tony knows him better than that, being his creator and all.

Fighting down his amusement, he remarks, “I distantly remember there's also something in there about how you're supposed to listen to me.”

Theoretically. There are orders, underlined by codes, that JARVIS is obliged to follow, but other than that, Tony has always wanted him to evolve on his own. He never wanted a digital slave but someone he could trust.

“Only if it doesn't contradict my primary directive to keep you safe, sir.” There is fondness in his AI’s tone, and that, Tony is sure, is his greatest achievement.

Groaning dramatically, he says, “I created a monster.”

“And then you made me to reign it in,” JARVIS answers, utterly serious and without any hesitation.

Much quieter but with no less affection, Tony answers, “Thanks, J.”

Then there is no more reason to delay. With a determined nod, Tony turns the key in the ignition and starts driving, watching the garage grow smaller in the back mirror with equal amounts of dread and excitement.

He has no idea where he is going. There is a map in the glove box but he would not know what to do with it. As far as he knows, Bucky is driving in no specific direction, has no definitive destination in mind. Still, he found Tony, so Tony tries his best to believe that they will miraculously manage to meet again.

 

* * *

 

On their first stop to get gas, Tony calls home while he waits in line to pay. He probably should have done so before he left the garage in a hurry, but Pepper will lecture him anyway, so he has at least spared himself from fighting against her talking him out of this.

“Tony,” she greets him, sounding like she is in a hurry. Although she usually is, leading his company for him. “Have you called the moving company yet?”

“About that,” he says, literally hearing the way she becomes still, pursing her lips in immediate disapproval, because nothing good can come from him beginning their conversation this way. “I’m not coming home yet, Pep.”

One day, her patience with him will run out, and he knows there will be nowhere for him to hide then. He is nonetheless glad for the distance between them right now, but still mentally prepares to buy her a wagonload of new shoes.

“What do you mean you’re not coming?” Anyone thinking women cannot be dangerous has never heard Pepper holding onto her composure by as thin a thread as this. Tony usually manages to get her to this point rather quick.

“I’m going on a vacation. Already left, actually,” Tony explains quickly, without saying anything of real substance. If he mentioned Bucky, Pepper would likely drag him back home by the ear. “Just wanted you to know that I might not be available for a while.”

Pepper is quiet on the other end, although Tony imagines he can hear the clicking of her heels as she goes somewhere private where no one will hear her shouting at him.

“A vacation?” she asks, disbelief dripping from her tongue. “What happened?”

They know him too well, Rhodey and Pepper, know he would never simply pack up his things and go – or, well, not without having a workshop prepared wherever he is going. Still, he feints ignorance.

“Why would something have happened?”

That is a question he can very well answer himself: because there is always something happening where he is involved, usually something bad that means work for everyone else; because Tony is a human disaster who needs constant supervision, either to keep him from blowing things up or to make sure that he takes care of himself, both of which usually go hand in hand; because Tony is the type to ask neither for permission nor forgiveness, and at one point he will not be able to run from his bad decisions anymore.

“You don’t do vacation,” Pepper answers, choosing the kind of polite answer Tony would not have thought possible. “Not once in all the years I’ve known you. And no, weekends with your current arm candy do not count.”

What she means is that Tony works to calm himself. He builds himself a different world in his own head and busies himself there instead of relocating in reality.

Tony ignores her jab, which she only ever made to get a reaction out of him anyway, and says, “I moved out here. That’s practically a vacation.” Sometimes he wonders why he always has to be contrary, but he has long since given up on trying to change it.

“No, that was running away,” Pepper snaps, not quite angry but desperate to find out whether she needs to do damage control. “Wait, are you running away again? _What happened_?”

Calling Rhodey would have made things infinitely easier for him – if only for the moment, because he does not believe for a minute that Rhodey would not have gone blabbing to Pepper, and if she had found out about his road trip stunt second hand, he would be in much more trouble.

“Pep, I love you, but you don’t need to worry,” Tony says, painfully aware that this will not calm her down. “There’s just something I need to do. I’ll call you if something important happens.”

Like him blowing up a small town or getting arrested – or finding some guy she does not know yet but who he fancies himself in love with.

“Tony, just tell me what is going on,” she all but pleads, but by then it is Tony’s turn to pay for his gas and that is as good an excuse as any to end this conversation before it can turn ugly.

“Sorry, Pep, gotta run.”

“Don’t you dare hang up on me,” Pepper’s voice sounds, but Tony has already lowered the phone and ends the call with a slight wince. She will not like this, but contrary to public opinion, he is a grown man and able to make decisions for himself.

When Tony arrives back at the car, he sees a pair of children running away laughing, guessing that the bots made a spectacle of themselves even though he told them to stay quiet. What he did not expect, however, was to find Butterfingers waving at him madly through the open window, several colourful streamers attached to the tip of his arm. Sighing, he wonders whether that is how Pepper feels when she leaves _him_ alone for five minutes. Needless to say, his awe for her abilities rises another notch.

“You’ve got something in your face, buddy,” he tells Butterfingers fondly, and raises his hands in surrender when the bot rises his arm as high as he can to prevent Tony from taking his new jewellery away. “I wouldn’t dream about it,” he reassures him and climbs back into the car.

 

* * *

 

Once they are driving, Tony realizes for the first time how enormously large his home country really is. As one used to flying everywhere he needed to go, the sheer number of streets spreading out in front of him, the miles and miles of asphalt, are closing in on him, stealing his breath for a minute.

Tony has no idea where he is going. All this romantic nonsense of finding Bucky just because they are right for each other disappears the moment he lays eyes on the first destination board. There are so many places, so many roads waiting to be taken, he does not know where to start.

At first, he drives simply where the bots are pointing. Butterfingers is holding his arm out of the window, supposedly to enhance their visibility should Bucky be looking for them, or so JARVIS translates, but Tony is sure he simply likes the way the streamers are flapping in the wind.

That is not actually an effective way to navigate, though, or so Tony decrees once they have driven in circles twice. That is when Tony first decides that he will be driving towards New York. There is no guarantee that Bucky is going back home, in fact, Tony thinks it rather unlikely. At least, he had not wanted to go back before, and Tony does not believe that even his inadequacy was enough to push Bucky into giving up his search completely. Even if he is not there, though, it should not be too hard to find Bucky’s friends, Steve and Natasha and Clint, and maybe get them to find Bucky for him.

Very briefly, Tony considers tracking Bucky's phone. It's old and, frankly, an insult to modern phones, but Tony is a genius, he could do this in his sleep. But JARVIS still keeps him informed about any major changes to Bucky’s bank accounts – or lack of it, telling Tony that Bucky has not touched a single dollar of the money Tony had given him, and that is answer enough, really, that he does not want anything to do with Tony and what he can offer.

Deep down, however, Tony is still a child, hoping to be accepted, to be loved, and he has given up too many times already, and this is something he does not really want to lose, especially since he has not truly had it yet. A few secret weeks in his exile will never be enough. For the first time in years, Tony wants to smile at the world and say _mine_.

Also, using GPS would be so easy, like cheating. When he finds Bucky – and it's always a _when_ in the beginning – he wants to say it was because they are drawn to each other, because Tony has been really looking instead of simply going where he is pointed. Inwardly, he gives himself a month, maybe two weeks, before he caves, but until then, his principles are holding strong.

Days pass, and ushering the bots in and out of motels is a horrible piece of work, but he cannot actually begrudge them their excitement. For the first time in their existence, they are seeing the world not through windows or computer screens. Their sensors feel actual wind, their joints crunch with actual sand. And Tony, in turn, learns to see the world through their eyes, not only as something to improve but as something beautiful in its own right.

For the first time in forever, Tony sleeps through entire nights. He even eats, which is mostly due to the bots picking out meals for him and whining in disappointment when it even looks like he is going to refuse. He still feels lonely lying in bed alone, and thinks of Bucky as his salvation more than is likely healthy, but he cannot deny that he is healing. He laughs at the bots’ antics, charms the people he comes across, and works in his off-hours but without feeling the need to fall into a desperate working binge just for the sake of stopping to think.

Tony still wants to find Bucky, the need to see him again is unchanged, but he begins thinking that the trip will not be for nothing even if it does not end with him and Bucky falling into each other’s arms. Which does not mean he will give up. Asking Bucky’s friends for assistance is still high up on his list of back-up plans. For now, though, life is good.

 

* * *

 

It is actually Butterfingers who spots him first. For the most part, every traveller on a bike looks like Bucky to Tony, like his dream become flesh. He sees a dozen metal arms that turn out to be only a glinting part of the bike, and a hundred men with long dark hair who actually look nothing like Bucky. Every curve of the road and every hill holds the chance that this is the last one, the one Bucky is waiting after. It takes days for the disappointment to stop feeling like a punch in the gut.

But when Butterfingers starts beeping like mad, shaking his arm with the streamers like a flag, Tony shushes him, thinking it is only a false alarm anyway, or Butterfingers has seen another cute animal he would like to see from closer up. Then Dum-E and U join the chorus of unbridled excitement, and there _is_ a bike coming towards him, but there have been hundreds before.

Then they pass each other and the usual hopeful metallic glint catches Tony's eye. He almost resents the driver, simply for the fact that he dares to uses this street at the same time as him. The bots are getting even louder, and Tony opens his mouth to scold them, but then the bike in his back mirror comes to an abrupt halt, standing in the middle of the street, offering a perfect view of its driver.

“Sir,” JARVIS speaks up cautiously, but he does not need to say anything further, because Tony’s body reacts faster than his brain can.

The next moment, they are all hanging in their seatbelts. Tony almost yelps, surprised by the force of it, but then he has not used his brakes this hardly in a long time. Time seems to come to a standstill, while neither of them moves. Tony does not even dare to turn around in case the man in the mirror will reveal himself as someone other than the one Tony is hoping for.

Everything is happening rather fast then. Dum-E somehow manages to open the driver door from the backseat and Butterfingers unceremoniously pushes Tony out. He gets clumsily to his feet, afraid to look or walk or call out.

There they are, though, standing on the street across from each other with their vehicles abandoned behind them. Bucky looks somehow taller, bright-eyed and nervous but also strangely determined.

“Tony,” Bucky finally says, voicing it like a question. The name sounds like gospel on his tongue. All Tony wants to do is taste it.

It has the added benefit of getting Tony to move, slowly at first but then with widening steps. He stops when Bucky is almost within arm’s reach and it takes all Tony has not to go ahead and touch him, just to confirm that he is real.

“I had hoped you wouldn't be in New York yet,” Tony says, his voice rough, suddenly at a loss of words. He had imagined that moment and Bucky had always been either overjoyed to see him or still mad, so that he never needed to _explain_. It should be obvious. They parted unnecessarily on bad terms and now Tony is here to mend things between them.

Bucky is looking at him with a strange kind of intensity, though, confused and perhaps a bit taken aback, like he cannot think of a single reason why Tony would be out here.

“What?” he asks.

Any other time, Tony might have made fun of him for that. Now, however, he wonders whether he has not grossly miscalculated.

“It's just –” If given the chance, Tony knows he will begin rambling and nothing good can come of that, so he shrugs and decides to simply dive right in. “Once you were home, I didn't think I'd have any chance to get you to come back with me.”

He can hardly make it any clearer than that, and still Bucky frowns like he is not sure he has understood correctly.

"You want me to go back with you?" Bucky sounds so incredulous that Tony winces and instinctively takes a step back.

“I know, it's unlikely,” Tony says, trying to infuse some humour into his tone and falling horribly short. He has always been the self-deprecating type anyway and bitterness clings to him far more often than geniality. “But you said something about how you're still searching for something worthwhile to stay for, and I thought, well, that's _obviously_ not me, and then you didn't seem to mind when I was shutting you out - which wasn't a test, by the way, that's just me being my usual destructive self, Pepper's words, not mine, and then you left and I couldn't sleep anymore.”

That is the kind of confession he probably should not make out here, but the words are out now and he could not try to stop his tongue from spitting out his secrets now even if he wanted to. If he does not get all of this out now, he might never manage to.

“I even thought of returning to New York myself, just to drown out the memories of you.” Tony grimaces, imagining wearing suits again and false smiles. “I hate even thinking about all the social games I'd be pulled back into there, but it still seemed better than to work myself to death here and end up as one of those ghost stories you always hear in the country.”

He had loved those as a child, because while they were usually tragedies, they all involved great emotions before everything went to hell. For someone growing up in as emotionally cold an environment as him, even that seemed better than what he had.

“And then I remembered Rhodey telling me once that I should give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. I'm not good at that, especially since he is usually all about me not letting myself be used and thrown away. Never quite managed to find out when to choose which path.” Swallowing heavily, Tony thinks that he needs to finish this rant of his now or he never will, and there is actually something important he needs to say. “But I know I wanted you to stay and then you didn't, but I think I've given up too many times already.”

Tony falls abruptly silent, feeling as out of breath as if he had run all the way here, and wonders how he will ever get his chest to move again if Bucky tells him to go right here and now. Where will he get the energy to console the bots when he feels like falling apart himself?

“You talk too much,” Bucky then says, sounding gruff.

This is it, Tony realizes, numbness spreading through his entire body. Before he can slump in defeat, however, before the horror can really settle into his stomach, Bucky is moving towards him with great urgency and then their lips are touching, not hungry, although some great beast roars its head inside Tony, but soft, conciliatory, tasting of second chances.

“Please, don't ever change,” Bucky whispers as they part, leaning his forehead against Tony’s to remain as close as possible while still being able to speak. “And, please, always come after me when I make a stupid decision like running away because you lie a little too well.”

Reality seems to have taken a backseat. Bucky’s arms are around Tony, holding him close, and it feels like they are the only two people in the universe. Everything circles around them, the warmth of the sun itself radiates off them, and all the endless hours of doubts and loss evaporate for the moment.

“You're not mad?” Tony has to ask before he can fully relax into the embrace.

Bucky’s hand wanders up Tony’s back all the way to his nape, where it lays warm and firm and promising.

"Of course, I'm mad,” Bucky says but immediately chuckles. The sound is rueful but not mocking. “Do you know how much time we wasted, chasing each other's ghosts?"

Tony very much knows. “No more,” he promises and shifts even closer, smiling when Bucky hums his approval.

Later, Tony could not say how long they stand there on the street, simply holding onto each other. Not everything is well, of course, but they have found each other and for now, that is enough. When they separate, Tony feels the loss keenly, but at the same time he wants to go home with Bucky at his side and finally leave this ugly chapter behind them.

“Wait,” Bucky exclaims all of a sudden, sending a shock through Tony. “Is that Butterfingers who's waving like mad out of your car?"

Turning around, Tony indeed sees Butterfingers’ arm with the streamers gesturing wildly at them, and he cannot help but laugh. It bubbles from deep inside his stomach and he does nothing to stop it. What a picture they make, his kids in the car, beyond thrilled to welcome their newest family member back into the fold.

“They are all here,” Tony explains breathlessly, unsure how to put the bots’ show of loyalty into words. “Wouldn’t let me go alone. I think they were afraid that I wouldn’t make it on my own and come back without you.”

Bucky looks for all the world like he is going to hug each of the bots extra long for that alone, but for now he stays glued to Tony’s side, simply waving back at them with a wide smile.

Do you think we can make one of them drive the bike back, so I can be with you in the car?” he asks, sneaking in another kiss.

The image alone has Tony erupting into laughter again. One of the bots holding onto the bike with their one arm for dear life while they speed down the highway blindly – they _have_ to test this at some point.

For now, though, Tony shakes his head, saying breathlessly, “And here I thought no one was to touch your precious bike.”

Without hesitation, Bucky shrugs. “They are your kids. And you are, obviously, an exception.”

That, more than anything else, has warmth spreading through Tony’s insides, more, maybe, than even Bucky moving in to kiss him when Tony thought he would turn away and leave. Bucky has always treated the bots as more than machines, but the fondness with which he talks of them raises things to a whole new level.

“I'm not willing to test your trust to the point where Butterfingers will crash your bike,” Tony refuses lightly, looking pointedly at the crazy gathering of robots performing a kind of victory dance inside his car. “Although we'd most likely not end up any better if you put me in such close quarters with you right now.”

Tony barely keeps himself from wincing. This is too much too soon. The kissing aside, they have a lot to talk about before they fall back into the routine of joking about intimacy and following through on it. Bucky’s expression remains fondly amused, however, so Tony is almost sure he has not messed up too badly.

“When you put it like that,” Bucky acquiesces, although not without regret. Then he straightens, reluctantly disentangling himself from Tony. “All right, you drive with your mad bots, I take the bike and we meet up back home.”

Home, Tony thinks, eyes burning. “You're cooking,” he counters, grinning. “Pepper's been shouting at me for losing weight.”

 

* * *

 

They meet up again for dinner that night in some motel at the side of the road. Despite wanting to drive through the night to get home faster, they took one look at how much the bots are enjoying the trip and were convinced to not bring their adventure to such an abrupt end. Also, they have time now. They have found each other, and while they still have a lot to figure out, they will do so together.

“No more running,” Bucky had said before he put his helmet back on. It was either a question or a promise.

It was the easiest way to agree with him. _No more running_.

As they share cheap pasta in a diner overlooking the highway, Tony can barely believe that Bucky is sitting right across from him, smiling at him with fondness instead of anger. Weeks ago, they have separated as strangers, but now it feels so very easy to let Bucky draw him in again.

“Where were you going?” Tony asks, still marvelling at the fact that they have truly met, passing each other on the same road. “Or were you still driving around without a plan?”

“I was on my way back,” Bucky says, still smiling.

“To New York?” Tony asks, wilfully ignorant, thinking himself lucky that he met Bucky when he did.

“No.” Bucky squeezes Tony’s hand. They have not let go of each other since pulling into the parking lot of the diner. “To you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow this turned out to be more about the bots than Bucky, and more humour than relationship angst - but Butterfingers with streamers! I hope you liked it nonetheless!  
> All the best for the new year for you all! Please tell me what you think.


End file.
